Method of mixing or blending fibers



Oct. 22, 1963 l E. w. HILT ETAL 3,107,397

METHOD OF MIXING OR BLENDING' FIBERS Filed April 1, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 HTTVS Oct. 22, 1963 E. w. I -IILT ETAL 3,107,397

' METHOD OF MIXING OR BLENDING FIBERS Filed April 1, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 1963 E. w. HlLT ETAL 3,107,397

METHOD OF MIXING 0R BLENDING FIBERS Filed April 1, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet I5 Oct. 22, 1963 E. w. HlLT ETAL 3,107,397

METHOD OF MIXING OR BLENDING FIBERS Filed April 1, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 77/145 RECEIVER DEl/IY F625) j United States Patent METHOD OF MIXING 0R BLENDING FIBERS Eugene W. Hilt, Saco, Maine, and Ernest G. Whalon, Jr.,

Danielson, Conan, assignors to Pepperell Manufacturing Company, Boston, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Filed Apr. 1, 1959, SenNo. 803,421 4 Claims. (Ci. 19-1455) This invention pertains to apparatus for use in the treatment of textile fibres preparatory to spinning and more especially to a method of and means for use in mixing or blending fibres having different characteristics, for instance difference in kind; staple length; grade; color; softness; etc., thereby to provide a mix of substantial uniformity as to certain chosen characteristics or qualities.

Intimate mixing of the textile fibres from dilferent batches of supply, for example, cotton from different bales; fibres of different kinds, for example cotton and staple rayon; or differently dyed fibres, is of prime importance for producing high quality threads and yarns, that is to say, threads or yarns having uniform strength, elongation, color or the like. Intimate mixing also reduces failures during spinning. Thus, for instance, in mixing different classes of cotton, staple, price, color and spinning qualities are things to be considered. A harsh wiry fibre and a soft pliable one cannot be mixed together as a practical matter, for the treatment for the one is different from that required for the other. Good blending is defined as meaning that condition when each fibre characteristic is found in. each cross-section of the spun yarn in the proportions of its presence in the mix, and with variations from the proportions resulting only as a consequence of random selection.

The blending of fibres in the effort to produce a uni form product is customarily performed as a step preliminary to or concomitantly with the opening and picking operations, since, unless the fibre be properly blended at a very early stage in the process, excess waste and loss may result.

As a specific example and with reference to the blending of cotton in preparing it for delivery to a mixing picker, the selected number of bales to be included in the mix, for instance from twelve to sixteen, are placed about the picker (the bands and heads having been removed) and then, by feeding a small quantity from each bale simultaneously to the picker, a reasonably good blend will be obtained. However, such a result depends upon the exercise of exceptional care upon the part of the operator. Another method involves the spreading of the contents of successive bales, or fractional portions of each bale, to form horizontal layers disposed one upon the other, thus building up a multi-layer stack and then, by hand, pulling off from the edge of this stack portions or slices, which should reach from top to bottom of the stack for delivery to the picker. Theoretically this procedure should produce reasonable uniformity, but again this depends very largely upon the care of the operator in including a portion of each layer in each slice which he removes from the stack. Moreover, this latter method involves the provision of a mixing chamber of sufiicient capacity to receive a large number of opened bales, and in addition, a floor area on which the multi-layer stack may be built up. Me chanical modifications of this latter procedure have been proposed, for instance the selected number of bales may be arranged within convenient distance from a weighing pan and the operator then takes from each successive bale a quantity of fibre which he spreads in the bottom of the pan to form as nearly uniform a layer as possible ice weight of material from that particular bale. He then continues placing layer after layer in the pan, each consisting of material from a different bale, until he has built up a batch of the desired weight. Then, without disturbing the arrangement of these superposed horizontal layers, the batch is removed from the pan and placed upon the horizontal conveyor apron of a con ventional feeder or mixing picker and is advanced by this picker into the field of action of the customary spike apron of such a machine. Theoretically, this spike apron should remove; equal quantities per unit of time from each of the superposed horizontal layers forming this batch, such layers customarily extending across the entire width of the conveyor. However, careful experiment has shown that this apparatus does not accomplish the expected result, in particular for the reason that in conventional feeders or pickers there is arranged, near the upper end of the fibre-elevating run of the spike apron, a vibratory comb or knock-off roll whose function is to even the thickness of the material on the spike apron by knocking off surplus stock, the stock thus removed falling back and, in the usual feeder or picker, dropping onto the material which is being advanced toward the spike apron by the horizontal conveyor apron. In apparatus such as that just described, it is found that substantially all of the stock which is thus removed from the spike apron is that which forms the upper layer or layers of the multi-layer batch above described; and thus, in many instances, the final mix may be very deficient in the characteristics of this upper layer, for example, if the apparatus be employed for mixing batches of stock of the same character but of different colors, the resultant mix may be of a tint or shade wholly different from that intended, and which should theoretically be obtained by the mixing of the carefully weighed-out quantities of the several colors. Since the material which is scraped off by the kn'ock-otfroll drops onto the top of the upper layer of the multi-layer batch, it merely increases the thickness of this layer and, if this material is picked up by the spike apron, it is again knocked off and eventually forms a roll which continues to rotate but may never be incorporated with the material which is ultimately delivered by the spike apron to the mixing picker.

The present invention has for its object the provision of a novel method of and apparatus for use in the blending of textile materials so as to produce substantial uniformity in the product, and which is not subject to the errors and the disadvantages inherent in prior practices such as above referred to. A further object isto provide mixing and blending means such as may be associated with a conventional feeder or mixing picker, requiring but slight modification of the latter, and which occupies far less floor space than is required for mixing and blending of textile materials in accordance with most customary prior practices. A further object is to provide mixing and blending means which substantially eliminates'the personal factor as an element of possible error, and which is substantially automatic in its operation, requiring no more than the repeated deposit in each of a series of compartments of material taken from each of a corresponding number of bales, bins or piles. In the attainment of the above objects, the present invention provides a novel method of blending fibrous material to provide a substantially uniform mix by arranging predetermined masses of each, respectively, of the several constituents of the desired mix side-by-side with their lower surfaces in the same plane; simultaneand of a thickness to provide the desired proportional ously advancing said masses of material, while keeping them side-by-side and with their lower surfaces in said plane, toward a delivery point; simultaneously removing material from the advancing ends of the several masses at said delivery point and, when each of said masses has been depleted to a predetermined extent by the removal of material from its advancing end, adding material at the trailing end of each of said masses to insure a constant supply of material at the delivery point.

In the practice of the aforesaid method for supplying fibrous material to a conventional feeder, mixing picker or the like having a conveyor apron provided with a material-supporting r-un arranged to deliver fibrous material to the lower end of the upgoing run of a spike apron, there is arranged, above the receiving end of the conveyor apron, a plurality of adjacent compartments each substantially rectangular in horizontal section and each desirably longer in the direction of apron movement than transversely, each compartment being open at its top for the reception of material but being normally closed by a hinged door at its lower end, each of the compartments being designed to receive one of the constituents, respectively, of the desired mix; means operative simultaneously to open the several doors thereby to permit the material in each of the compartments to drop, in the form of a coherent mass (longer, in the direction of conveyor movement, than it is wide), upon the upper surface of the conveyor apron, the several masses being advanced simultaneously and side-by-side toward the spike apron, the doors automatically closing when the charge of material has been dropped from the compartments, and the means for simultaneously opening the several doors acting automatically, when the trailing ends of the several masses of fibrous material have arrived at a predetermined distance from the spike apron, to open the doors and allow other charges of material, which have in the meantime been placed in the several compartments, to drop upon the conveyor apron. Although these elongate masses of fibre are not of exactly uniform size or shape, they are sometimes referred to hereinafter, merely for convenience, and diagrammatically illustrated, as elongate rectangular blocks.

Since, in accordance with this method and by the use of the apparatus referred to, the mass of material which approaches the spike apron is substantially uniform in composition at any horizontal section, whatever surplus material which may be knocked 01f from the spike apron by the evening comb or roll comprises portions of each of the several constituents intended to form the mix and is not predominantly of any one of these several components. Thus, the material which is delivered to the feeder or mixing picker always contains the several constituents in the intended proportions; and, since the operator is merely required to place in each of the compartments material from a corresponding bale, bin or pile, in forming the charge in the particular compartment, the personal factor is largely eliminated; the operation is more rapid than by previous methods or apparatus; and a minimum of space is required as compared with systems in which the material must be spread upon the floor to form a multi-layer stack of large superficial dimensions in the attempt to secure uniformity of mix.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be pointed out in the following more detailed description and by reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary diagrammatic perspective view, with parts broken away, showing apparatus in accordance with one embodiment of the invention arranged in association with a feeder of a well-known type, the fibreholding compartments being empty with their doors open and no fibrous material resting upon the conveyor apron;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic plan view of the blending apparatus of the present invention, omitting all parts of the feeder except the conveyor apron;

FIG. 3 is a diagramamtic front elevation of the blending apparatus of the present invention; showing a part of the floor of the opening room in vertical section;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary, diagrammatic side elevation showing a portion of a conventional feeder, including the horizontal conveyor apron; a spike apron of conventional type with a vibratory comb for knocking off surplus material thereby to even the layer on the spike apron; and showing one composite charge of material as resting upon the conveyor apron with its advancing end approaching the spike apron, and showing, in broken lines, a second charge in readiness to be dropped onto the conveyor apron from the compartments of the blending apparatus;

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic plan view illustrating the character of the composite charge which is presented by the conveyor apron to the spike apron;

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic vertical section on the line 6-6 of FIG. 5; and

FIG. 7 is a wiring diagram illustrative of one desirable electrical system for use in the automatic operation of the apparatus.

Referring to the drawings, the character P (FIG. 1)

indicates a. feeder which may be of any conventional type,

although, as here illustrated, it is a so-called F-7 Cleaning and Blending Feeder, manufactured by the Saw- Lowell Company as illustrated in the Saco-Lowell handbook, volume 1, Opening and Picking, copyrighted 1942 by Saco-Lowell Shops of Boston, Massachusetts, said apparatus being operative, either primarily or as a secondary function, to mix fibrous material delivered to it. The feeder or picker employed, of whatsoever kind or character will, as usual, comprise a so-called spike apron S (FIG. 4) to which the material, to be delivered to the feeding or picking apparatus, is presented by a conveyor apron here shown as having a horizontal, material-supporting run R (FIG. 4), and the feeder or picker, as usual, also comprises a knock-01f comb K or equivalent evening means designed to remove surplus material from the layer which is being elevated by the upgoing run of the spike apron, so that the thickness of the layer which is delivered by the spike apron will be substantially uniform. Since the spike apron S does not, at all times, carry the fibrous material away as fast as it is presented 'to the spike apron by the conveyor R, the material tends to form a roll, such as indicated at 6* (FIG. 4), which slowly rotates in the direction indicated by the arrow. In order to insure proper pick-up of the material constituting this roll by the spike apron, a rake N (FIG. 4) is provided, this rake comprising a plurality of spaced, elongate, downwardly directed, parallel teeth fixed at their upper ends to a horizontal shaft 18 to which an arm 19 is fixed. A weight 20, carried by the arm 19, tends to turn the shaft 318 and thus press the rake teeth against the roll G urging the latter toward the spike apron. Conventional means (not shown) limits movement of the rake and automatically adjusts the pressure which it exerts against the roll.

in the practice of the present invention, the conveyor apron R of the conventional feeder or picker is extended (as viewed in FIG. 1) to the right for a distance, for example, of forty inches, so that its receiving end may be disposed within the casing M (FIG. 1) of the mixing or blending apparatus of the present invention. This casing houses and supports a plurality of receptacles or compartments (here designated by the characters A, B, C, D and E, respectively), these compartments as here shown being substantially rectangular in horizontal section and longer in the direction of motion of the conveyor apron R than transversely. The compartments may be all of the same width, or of different widths corresponding, for example, to the proportions of the several ingredients in the desired blend. The combined transverse width of the several compartments should not exceed the width of the conveyor apron R. Their lengths, in the direction of con veyor motion, may, for example, be of the order of forty inches. These compartments or receptacles extend upwardly to and through the ceiling of the room in which the apparatus is installed and their upper ends are desirably arranged substantially flush with the upper surface of the floor 0 (FIG. 3) of the opening room which is directly above the apparatus. Thus, the open upper ends of these compartments appear as parallel slots T in the floor 0 of the opening room. Just below its upper or receiving end, each compartment is preferably narrowed as i11- dicated at V (FIG. 1), the width of the narrow throat at this point limiting the thickness of the slab of fibre which may be dropped into the compartment. At its lower end, each of the compartments A, B, C etc. is provided with a door (FIG. 1) which is normally closed so as to form a floor for the respective compartment, but these doors are hinged each along one of the longitudinal lower edges of the corresponding compartment so that the doors may be dropped down to the position shown in full lines in FIG. 1. Each door is provided with a crank arm 11, extending radially from its hinge pin, and the ends of the several crank arms are pivotally connected toa link 12. which is actuated (through any suitable intermediate connections) by the rod 113 of a piston (not shown) within an air cylinder 14. This cylinder is supplied with air from a suitable source of compressed air, under control of a solenoid-actuated valve 17, the arrangement being such that the doors are normally closed, but by operation of the valve 11-7 the doors all open simultaneously thereby permitting any material which has been collected in the several compartments to drop directly down onto the upper run of the conveyor apron R.

At a predetermined distance from the vertical plane of the left-hand walls of the compartments A, B, C, etc., as viewed in KFIG. 1, for example, approximately midway between said plane and the receiving portion of the spike apron S, a light source '15, for example an electric lamp, is arranged at one side of the conveyor apron R, while directly opposite, at the other side of the conveyor apron, there is arranged a photoelectric cell :16, the light source and photoelectric cell being arranged at such an elevation that, so long as fibrous material of the intended depth is moving along upon the conveyor apron between the light source and photoelectric cell, the light from the light source will be occluded and the photoelectric cell will be inactive.

By means of a suitable electrical circuit, such as illustrated, by way of example in FIG. 7, the doors 10 at the lower ends of the several compartments are opened automatically in response to the falling of light from the source 15 upon the photoelectric cell. A manual switch X in the electrical circuit provides for the opening of the doors It? for the discharge of material from the compartments onto the conveyor apron R independently of the operation of the photoelectric cell. The circuit preferably includes a conventional time delay relay. The circuit normally operates to open the doors '10 when the light beam has not been interrupted for a predetermined period, for example, three seconds, however, the time delay acts to prevent overloading of the spike apron, which might occur by reason of the momentary passage of the light beam through an accidentally occurring hole in the rotating roll G during normal operation. v

.In the use of the apparatus as above described, the operator in the opening room will arrange the number of bales to be used in making the mix in convenient position about the slots T in the floor 0 and then, from each bale, in succession, will peel off a flake or slab of the fibre and drop it into a corresponding one of the slots T. The width of the throat at V determines the maximum thickness of the fiake or slab of material which may be dropped into the compartment. In order to inform the operator as to whether a compartment is in readiness to receive material, a signal light W or equivalent device is arranged in the opening room, in circuit with a lever switch (not shown) which is actuated by the weight of material in the compartment.

The conveyor apron R is driven at the proper linear velocity, for example at the rate of fifty feet per minute,

to deliver the material to the spike apron at a rate such as to insure continuity of supply.

The operator places one flake or slab from a bale in each of the several compartments, and assuming that they have all received the desired charges of material and that the doors 10 are now opened, either manually or by the action of the photoelectric cell, the several charges of material will drop simultaneously onto the upper surface of the conveyor apron R. These several charges of material, diagrammatically indicated as G G G G and G FIGS. 5 and 6, are each in the form of a generally rectangular mass or block corresponding, at least roughly, in horizontal dimensions of the several compartments (which may be of different widths if desired), and each of these masses, as it falls onto the upper surface of the conveyor apron R is of a length, longitudinally the conveyor, approximately equalling the width of a cotton bale, the several masses being in parallel relation and usually in intimate contact with each other, the several masses thus forming a composite mass or block G (FIG. 4), each of the constituent charges representing the material obtained from a single one of the several bales. As the conveyor apron R moves toward the spike apron, it advances this composite block G of material, comprising the parallel charges G G etc., toward the spike apron, with their lower surfacesin the same horizontal plane, resting upon the upper surface of the apron R. As here illustrated (FIGS. 4 and 6) these several charges are of the same vertical depth, although if the compartments be of different transverse width the charges G, G G etc., may be of difierent dimensions horizontally. In any event, the advancing ends of these several charges are brought into, engagement with the spike apron throughout their entire widths. As this composite block comprising the several charges passes between the light source 15 and the photoelectric cell 16, it occl-udes the beam of light from the light source so that the photocell is inactive. When the trailing end of the composite block of material comprising the charges G G etc., passes between the light source 15 and the photoelectric cell 16, the light beam is allowed to fall on the photoelectric cell and thereupon the solenoid valve :17 is so actuated as to cause the doors 10 to open, thus dropping the composite block G (FIG. 4) comprising the charges which, in the meantime, have accumulated in the containers A, B, C, etc.

The fibrous material at the advancing ends of the charges G G G etc., is entrained by the fibres of the rotating mass GP so that the several charges G G G etc., are gradually absorbed into said rotating mass. This mass, which is roughly cylindrical, comprises coaxial rolls, each, respectively, consisting, in major part at least, of material derived from a corresponding one of the charges G G etc., and as the roll G rotates portions are pulled off by the spike apron from each of these coaxial rolls and moved upwardly past the evening comb K. Any surplus material which is knocked off by the comb K mentors and becomes a part of the rotating mass G while the material delivered by the spike apron will contain proportions of all of the several constituents of the desired mix corresponding to the transverse widths of the several charges G G G etc., and the surplus which is knocked oil by the comb K will likewise contain the several constituents in the same proportions. Thus, by this simple procedure, it is insured that the material deposited in the several compartments A, B, C, etc., will be delivered at Z (FIG. 4) by the spike apron in exactly the same proportions as those in which they are placed in the compartments by the operator, it being understood that, by the normal functioning of the apparatus P or equivalent means, or by hand, the material which is delivered at Z by the spike apron will be thoroughly mixed preparatory to spinning it or otherwise employing it.

By the use of proper timing, as is made possible by the elements of the electrical circuit, it is readily possible, with 7 reference to a given linear velocity of the apron R, to insure a continuous supply of material to the spike apron at the rate at which the latter is designed to handle it, while, at the same time, providing the operator with sufficient time to deposit within each of the several containers the desired depth of charge.

While the apparatus as herein described is particularly well suited for the practice of the method above outlined, it is contemplated as within the purview of the invention that other means may be provided for depositing upon the conveyor apron R masses of the several constituents of the desired mix in side-by-side relation, each of such masses having its undersurface resting upon the upper surface of the apron R and the several masses being of substantially the same vertical depth; thus, for example, such masses of the constituent materials might be placed upon the conveyor apron R by hand or otherwise deposited.

While the invention has been described and herein illustrated in one desirable embodiment, it is contemplated that the invention is broadly inclusive of any and all modifications falling within the scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. That method of blending fibrous materials having different characteristics to produce a substantially uniform mix which comprises, as steps, arranging predetermined quantities of each of the several kinds of material so as to form a horizontally elongate composite block in which the several quantities of material extend lengthwise of the block and in side-by-side relation, the block having a substantially horizontal lower surface and being of substantially uniform depth, advancing the block endwise, while removing material in a direction perpendicular to the lower surface of the block from the entire width of the advancing vertical end face of the block, and mixing the material so removed. a

2. Method of mixing fibrous materials which differ in character one from another, which comprises as steps assembling individual masses, each consisting of one, respectively, of said different materials, to form a composite block wherein each of said masses extends uninterruptedly from one end face of the block to its opposite end face and wherein each mass likewise extends from the top to the bottom of the block, the several masses being side-by-side and being of the same vertical depth and, by pressing an end face of the block at which all of said several masses are exposed against fibre entraining means, simultaneously removing material from each of the several masses, and delivering the material, so removed, into the field of action of mixing means.

3. That method of delivering fibrous material to a mixing picker of the kind wherein fibrous material is fed to an upwardly moving spike apron thereby to form a mix in which fibers having different characteristics are uniformly distributed and in predetermined proportions, said method comprising, as steps, removing a quantity of fibrous material from each, respectively, of a plurality of masses of material, which may differ in characteristics, the quantity so removed from the several masses respectively, being in approximately the same ratio as the material, from the several masses, is to be found in the desired mix, simultaneously depositing said quantities of material upon a substantially horizontal support in the form of a composite block wherein the several quantities of material are arranged, side by side, the block being of approximately uniform height and of greater length than height, moving the said block in the direction of its length, so that the ends of all of the several quantities of material forming the block are simultaneously brought into the field of action of the spike apron of the mixer and before the material forming the block has been wholly depleted by the action of the spike apron, depositing a similar composite block of material upon the support.

4. The method of delivering fibrous materials from a plurality of supply masses to mixing means, thereby to produce a uniform blend which comprises as steps removing from each respective supply mass a predetermined quantity of the fibrous material, depositing the several quantities of material so removed upon a support so that the lower surfaces of the several quantities are all in the same plane and so that the several quantities are in side by side relation thereby forming a composite block of substantially uniform depth and at one end face of which the several quantities of material are exposed, and by means of a toothed device extending across the entire width of said face of the block concomitantly removing fibres comprised in each of said quantities of material and delivering the fibres, so removed, into the action of the mixing means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 13,613 Arneson et al Oct. 2, 1855 1,359,029 Butler Nov. 16, 1920 1,545,367 Tice July 7, 1925 2,816,327 Hunter et al Dec. 17, 1957 2,842,803 Hunter et al. July 15, 1958 2,842,804 Hunter et al July 15, 1958 2,851,737 Hunter et al Sept. 16, 1958 

1. THAT METHOD OF BLENDING FIBROUS MATERIAL HAVING DIFFERENT CHARACTERISTICS TO PRODUCE A SUBSTANTIALLY UNIFORM MIX WHICH COMPRISES, AS STEPS, ARRANGING PREDETERMINED QUANTITIES OF EACH OF THE SEVERAL KINDS OF MATERIAL SO AS TO FORM A HORIZONTALLY ELONGATE COMPOSITE BLOCK IN WHICH THE SEVERAL QUANTITIES OF MATERIAL EXTEND LENGTHWISE OF THE BLOCK AND IN SIDE-BY-SIDE RELATION, THE BLOCK HAVING A SUBSTANTIALLY HORIZONTAL LOWER SURFACE AND BEING OF SUBSTANTIALLY UNIFORM DEPTH, ADVANCING THE BLOCK ENDWISE, WHILE REMOVING MATERIAL IN A DIRECTION PERPENDICULAR TO THE LOWER SURFACE OF THE BLOCK FROM THE ENTIRE WIDTH OF THE ADVANCING VERTICAL END FACE OF THE BLOCK, AND MIXING THE MATERIAL SO REMOVED. 